Why does the 84+ cost more than the 83+ SE? The specs seem to put it the other way around.

Newness & novelty, mainly. Old things almost always sell for less, even if they are equivalent (for example, certain old Macintoshes are about as powerful as a TI-89/92+, but they cost much less because they are old (& bigger...but it would still be true even if they were the same size).

then I guess I goofed up in getting the 84+ instead of 83 SE. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to save up for an 89.

the 89 is definantly the best TI calc

Isn't the 83+ SE being discontinued? Now it is more a collector's item (as well as being an excellent calc)

three cheers for 83pse!!! down with worthless 84's!!!

Well, not completely useless: think about the USB port! (100's of uses there)
It is more expensive though (spit!) for basically the same features.

it's discontinued in most stores now, so i'll keep mine and hope it goes up in value.

In addition to dropping my calcs several times (they still work), I once dropped an .5mm ballpoint pen on my v200's screen, point down. It now has a little dent in the plastic (the pixels still work) to the left of the shift-arrow. (I dropped the pen from like three feet.)

My older brother, proud owner of a ti 84+ se, added a backlight to his calc by using a dremel to sand off leds, so they could fit in his calc. Accidentaly, he drilled his screen, so he now has a big scratch on his calculator, otherwise its fine.

I once dropped a mechanical pencil point down (& extended a little) onto my TI-92+'s screen, but it survived without a scratch. But I am definitely clumsy...I drop every electronic device I own (even my desktop - the 1 time I picked it up in over a year, I dropped it); then again, everything I drop survives (even a hard drive from 3 feet, & a CRT from about 2 & 1/2 (of which the case opened, but upon being forced shut was okay)).

Your pretty lucky, If they crack then they will inplode, right?

I only drop it 1 to 5 times in a year somtimes it is a non-graphing one though.

once i droped a ti 30 and then when ever i taped the screen the mem cleared its self

Speaking of dropping the ti-30, I have noticed that the 30 is extremely durable and nearly invincible.

I have tested it several times to confirm this. For example, i have thrown the calculator as high as possible and have it land on solid concrete. I even threw it out of a moving bus on the highway (from the looks of it, it was still intact)! But nothing seems to effect the 30 at all, except for a few minor marks that can be easily rubbed off.

Well, the TI-30 isn't exactly the pinnicle of calculator technology; what I mean is, there is a lot more that can go wrong with a graphing calc than a scientific calc.

So even after all the abuse you've subjected the calc to, does it still work perfectly? (no malfunctioning LCD, keys, etc.)

My friend (Gauss3.14) and I tried to test the durability of TI-30. First we threw it out of the top story of my house onto concrete. (Worked perfectly) Then we threw it across my yard into some trees. (Still worked perfectly) Then, determined to destroy it, we decided to go golfing, with the calc as the ball! We used my big bertha 400cc driver and smacked it till it broke. The first time we hit it, a small black wire came out of the upper corner. The next time, the wire broke and it quit working. Next, we gave it a good smack, and imploded the lower corner, and snapped the case off. Then we decided to hit it as hard as possible, and annialated...(?) it into at least 24 pieces. Now we have the pieces in a bag, and are going to show it off at school tomorrow.

DO NOT TRY THIS UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO DESTROY YOUR CALCULATOR! If you do, its not my problem.

One thing I've never liked is the fact that the slide case's "grip" becomes weaker with wear. Taking the cover on and off seems to wear both the case and the slots in the side of the calculator, so I don't think that getting a new case would completely solve the problem. This makes the calculator much easier to drop, since if you grab it only by the case, it will slide right off.

It also makes it annoying when you hold it in your hand and try to use it because the calculator (and therefore, the keys on the keyboard) keeps sliding down. My TI-89 case has become weak enough that I often prefer to just take it off when I use it.

I also have the weak case problem, does anyone know how to fix it?

On my TI-86, I just push inward on the sides of the case gently every once in a while. It generally makes it work for another few weeks or so, depending upon use.

Don't squeeze too hard… I just tried it and it feels like it might work, but it also felt like I was about to snap the slidecase in half.

TI switch the cover for the 89Ti around. Most likely because of the USB port, but it does solve that problem.

same with the 84+ and 84+SE. they should have done that long ago.